Frontlines  From the Dominion War
by Bryson
Summary: Part of the ongoing Ghost Team stories.  Here, Ghost Team is heading an operation to retrieve vital intelligence from a Cardassian outpost during the final stages of the Dominion War.


**Frontlines - From the Dominion War**

**- Cast of Characters -**

**Ghost Team:** Commander Kattan Karrd (Human), Doga (Klingon),

Lieutenant Adrian Cato (Human), Lieutenant Tom Rodney (Human)

**Starfleet Corp of Engineers:** Commander Parinita Stepan (Human)

_Stardate 52838.3_

_Indeper Prime - Cardassian Space_

Three powerful Dominion warships engaged their engines and pulled away from the Indeper Prime Outpost. The station, of Cardassian design and vaguely familiar to that of Terok Nor, had completed its servicing of the battle group which would now move on towards Cardassia itself and join the growing defense force. Each of the three ships powered their warp drives and jumped away from the planet at blinding speed.

Aboard the station a small team of Cardassian officers manned their posts on the command deck under the watchful eyes of their Jem'Hadar guards. Two stood by the turbolift door, weapons held tightly, with two more stood at seemingly random positions on the level that encircled the recessed operations center. The Cardassians seated down at their stations exchanged worried glances as the ships they had just finished repairs and supplies on left sensor range.

"I do not like where this is going." Truich whispered.

Darim threw a quick glance up at the nearest of the Jem'Hadar and leaned over to seethe, "Hold your tongue!"

"We have seen dozens of warships pass through here on their way to the home world! Something is happening."

"We are at war. Something is always happening." Darim's console began to beep silently. He leaned in over the sensor displayed and glared into it. "That sensor anomaly has returned again."

Truich leaned over to observe the display as Darim attempted to run a diagnostic on his console. "Is it the same as before?"

"Yes, but it is much closer to the station."

"And what are you two conspiring about here?" Their commanding officer, Gul Raduul, came up from behind and placed his hands firmly on the backs of their seats. "What is the problem here, Officer Darim?"

Darim pointed at the sensor display. "The sensor anomaly from before has reappeared on my screen, but much closer now. It is nearly three-hundred kilometers out but stationary. Should I alert our ships to investigate?"

"No." Raduul shook his head and looked out the station viewports so see nothing but empty space. "We wasted enough time chasing ghosts before. I want you to run a full diagnostic on the sensors and . . ."

"Sir!" Darim cut his commander off as new information scrolled onto his screen. "Fluctuations in the anomaly. There's something . . ." The command deck became filled with the intense high pitched whine of energy discharge just before the deck slid from under their feet as explosions roared all around them. Darim cried out as his console exploded in his face.

The klaxons came on not a moment later and the command deck became bathed in red lighting. The Jem'Hadar had raised their weapons but did little more than try to stay on their feet. The entire station shook violently as a second wave of explosions occurred. Gul Raduul stumbled on his was to his command post and his hands flew out in front of him to catch the chair's arm rests.

Truich quickly punched in the key sequence to transfer sensor control to him. He held on tight as a third explosion sounded. Additional warning klaxons came on even louder than the standard alerts. He whipped his head around and shouted his findings. "A Romulan D'Deridex class warship has decloaked at two-hundred kilometers port! We have lost all power to our shields!"

Raduul looked back to the viewport this time. "Contact the defense ships and the installations planet-side immediately, and reroute power to the shields before . . ."

There was an intense whine of energy followed immediately by four brilliant, blue-white columns appearing at various points around the deck. Instead of Romulan sentries, which the commander would have expected, the four rematerialized individuals bore pitch-black battle armor, sleek mirror-finish visors, and each held a deadly Federation issue phaser rifle held at ready.

The Jem'Hadar soldiers and Cardassian crew had half formed their instinctive reactions to the intruders when one of them shouted to the others. Their phaser rifles began unleashing powerful single bolts of red-orange energy. The Jem'Hadar guards were the first to fall. Two managed to get off poorly aimed shots before taking phaser rounds to the chest.

The Cardassians ran for cover behind various consoles and equipment as they went for their own weapons. One of the black armored attackers caught sight of Darim pulling free his hand phaser and quickly fired a round into him. The largest of the four stormed the commander's position and swung the butt of his rifle across the Cardassian's ridged face. The commander fell to the floor instantly unconscious from the impact.

The remaining two intruders both caught sight of Truich rising to attack with his recovered weapon and fired simultaneously at him. The shock of the burst rounds sent the Cardassian flying backwards into a wall display and left his phaser scattering across the floor. He then collapsed, dead.

The leader quickly scanned the command deck with his rifle and then lowered it. He brought his hand up to the side of the helmet and tapped a control. "_Euphrates_,this is Ghost Leader, we're secured. Beam over team two." He then lowered his hand and pointed with it. "Doga, Rodney, secure the turbolift." The two men pulled out small devices and began to move. "Ady, get on the sensors and give us an update on what's going out there." She nodded and slung her phaser rifle over her shoulder and around her back. More transporter effects filled the room as five additional people beamed in. This team did not wear battle armor, however. They instead wore Starfleet uniforms, bore the emblems of the Corps of Engineers and each carried a large pack. They set to work without needing instruction.

"It looks like one of them already had sensors up and running at Ops." Adrian Cato's hands flew across the Cardassian interface as she called up additional information. "We have two Galor-class warships on approach from the far side of the planet but the Romulans are moving to intercept. They're placing themselves between the station and . . ." She tapped the console again. "Sir, we have three Jem'Hadar attack ships approaching from the surface. ETA is three minutes. They're attempting to hail us."

"Just great." The team's leader muttered. "Commander Stepan, we need those shields _now_."

Parinita Stepan nodded as she and a member of her team began to link their equipment into the control consoles along the back wall. "Just give us sixty seconds to reroute through an undamaged power conduit and you'll have it, Commander Karrd. We only just locked out the transporters."

Kattan Karrd knew better than to argue time estimates with S.C.E. personnel and moved on to his next area of focus. Leaping across the deck, he came to a halt where the only survivor of the raid still lay unconscious. Kattan nearly winced at the bruise forming on the Cardassian commander's temple. "Nice work there, Doga." He pulled a transmitter out of a waist pouch and pressed it to the commander's uniform.

"There was far more gratification in striking him than simply killing him." Doga proclaimed from the starboard turbolift. His voice came deep, scratchy, and had the slightest of echoes. Doga retreated from the turbolift with his override device secured over the control panel adjacent to the door. Its green light signified the controls had been locked. He pulled his helmet off to reveal a set of proud Klingon ridges and long, black, braided hair. "It is secure."

"For now." Lieutenant Tom Rodney quipped. He followed suit with the others and shouldered his rifle on his left side. "We should have a good ten minutes at the least before the Cardassians or Jem'Hadar on the lower decks get past our lockouts."

"Good work, team." Kattan slipped his rifle over his shoulder as well and pulled off him helmet to reveal a head of short brown hair and pale blue eyes. "Ady, status report."

She too had removed her helmet and set it on the top edge of the console. Her short red hair was pulled back in a braid and did not get in the way of her vision. "The Romulans managed to destroy one of the Galors and is still engaged with the other. The Jem'Hadar are approaching from the surface and powering weapons," Adrian looked up with distressed green eyes, "but there's no sign of the cavalry."

Kattan silently swore. "Now is _not_ the best time to show up fashionably late." He turned his attention back to the engineers. "Stepan, _shields!_" His voice came on stronger than he had intended.

The commander twisted her head back only long enough to shout, "Working on it!" She and her engineers furiously attacked their controls as well as the Cardassian consoles as they worked the problem.

"Sir," Adrian called his attention back to Ops, "we have incoming contacts."

"It's about damn time." He hopped across the deck to her side and leaned over with hand resting beside her helmet. "Contact the _Deliverance_ and inform them about the . . ."

"Jem'Hadar warships!" She blurted out. Adrian called up more detailed profiles on the screen. "I'm reading one battleship with two cruiser escorts." Her eyes widened a little more. "They're converging on the warbird, but the Romulans are still pressing the attack on the Galor. I can't hail them!"

"Put it on main viewer." Kattan rounded the console and stood just a few meters away as the large screen came to life and showed the three Jem'Hadar warships move in on their prey. "Come on, surely they can detect them now." He slipped his helmet back on and tapped the communicator control. "_Euphrates_ this is Ghost Leader. We have hostile contacts inbound on the warbird. Can you contact them?"

"Shields are online!" Stepan victoriously announced from the back console. "We've also gained control of the weapons system. Phaser banks and photon torpedoes at your command, sir."

Kattan felt some of his apprehension lift at the announcement. His helmet's internal speakers came to life with the crew of the runabout reporting back to him. _"Negative on contact with the Romulans. The Jem'Hadar must be jamming their communications and sensors."_

Kattan tapped the communicator again. "_Euphrates,_ remain within the station's shields and await further orders." He cut the transmission and turned back to his team. "Doga get on the weapons station now. I want to light up those hostiles the moment they're in optimal range. We need to take some of the heat off the warbird."

The gruff Klingon acknowledged the order with a curt nod and made his way to the control console. The engineering team also moved away from the command deck's station controls and on to the data banks. Commander Stepan continued to make her orders in hushed tones so as not to distract the members of Ghost Team.

Doga's weapons console beeped loudly with affirmative tones. "I have weapons lock on the approaching battleship. It is at extreme range and I can not guarantee a direct hit."

"Train the station's phasers on the battle group but save our torpedoes for the attack ships." Almost as though on cue the station began to shake as the shields absorbed weapons fire. Kattan steadied himself on a nearby rail as they took a second successive round. "Damn it! Shield status?"

"Holding at eight-two percent." Adrian quickly recited from her screen's data.

The station was filled with the sound of phaser fire discharge as Doga began his attack upon the much more distant targets. "Lieutenant Rodney, your assistance at weapons, now!"

Tom quickly ran to his comrade's side and called up photon control on an unused part of the panel. "Torpedoes are armed." He input his targeting data as everyone once again felt their footing tested against the rocking of station's shields. "I have a lock on one of the attack ships. Firing." The torpedo launches were much stronger and echoed everywhere. Kattan watched on the view screen as a stream of eight photon torpedoes struck against the shields of the Jem'Hadar ship. They held against the first six, and buckled enough for the last two to pass and strike the hull. The attack ship's portside exploded into space and the burning remains drifted clear of them.

Kattan shook a fist in the air and allowed himself a smile. "Good shooting, Rodney!" The other two attack ships then fired their phased polaron beams in unison upon them. One of the consoles the engineering team was working at exploded in a shower of fire and sparks as it overloaded from the attack. The engineer at that station flew backwards hard onto the floor with his face blackened and charred.

Stepan was already at his side, ordering her remaining team members to continue their work as she pressed a hypospray to her fallen officer's neck. Kattan took his gaze away from the sight and back to the battle. "Ady, status?"

She too did her best to ignore the scene behind them. It was something they all were too familiar with during this war. "The Romulans have managed to cripple the Galor but have sustained damage. They are pulling back to the planet's moon and taking fire from the two cruisers in pursuit." The station once against shook violently under enemy fire. "Shields now and fifty percent! The battleship is moving into attack position and the two fighters are about to make another run." The sensor console began beeping loudly. "I just lost contact with the warbird. I'm reading a large anti-matter detonation in the area. The fighters are bringing their weapons to bear."

"Hold on that." Tom quickly executed another sequence of commands and pressed down hard on the firing control. On screen, they watched another long stream of torpedoes lance out and strike the second attack ship dead on. Its shield too collapsed under the brutal assault and the remaining weapons tore it apart in a blinding explosion. The last one opened fire. Tom's console flashed and then died after the rocking stopped. He tried to bring it back up, but slammed his fist on it as it did not respond. "I think we just lost weapons control."

"Shields at forty percent!"

Doga pulled his weapon out again and held it at ready. "Perhaps today is a good day to die."

"Cut it, Doga!" Kattan snapped. His team may be used to the Klingon's cryptic remarks, but he doubted a handful of Starfleet engineers could take it right now. He moved back to Stepan, who had once again resumed her task, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We can't stay here any longer. Where are you on that upload?"

Stepan's eyes betrayed her calm face, but she did not betray any weakness. "There are more security locks on here than we had anticipated. The Cardassians must have stepped up security in the last month since we received our intelligence briefs. We have to first . . ."

"How much time?" Kattan said again with his voice raised.

"Just a little more. I can't be sure . . ."

Kattan backed away from her. "That's it then." He tapped his communicator. "_Euphrates_, this is Ghost Leader. Prepare for emergency extraction. I want us warped out of this system the moment we're on board."

Stepan's hands never left her console, but she bit her lip and glared at him. "We're not done yet!"

"Commander, this station's defenses aren't going to survive an assault from a Dominion battleship!"

"More contacts!" Everyone affixed their attention back to Adrian with stilled breaths. She was hunched over the sensors again, but a smile spread across her lips as she looked up. "The _Deliverance _battle group has arrived!"

Kattan rushed over to her side. "Thank god!" He looked down her arm at the sensor display and immediately disliked what he saw. The _Deliverance _was a Nebulae-class heavy cruiser and her two escorts were much smaller Akira-class cruisers. "I'm not sure what good they're going to do up against these odds." He reached across her and tapped a control. His thoughts on their situation darkened even more. "Those Jem'Hadar cruisers are returning to the planet."

Adrian shook her head. "They must have gotten the warbird." She spoke their shared thought aloud.

Kattan activated his communicator once more. "_Euphrates_, this is Ghost Leader. Can you relay my transmission to the _Deliverance _via a narrowband burst transmission?" The runabout confirmed his request and then a moment later told him he was connected. "_Deliverance_ this is Ghost Leader. We are onboard the station and attempting to secure the data dump from their main computers. We've lost weapons and the Romulan warbird has most likely been destroyed, please advise." A shrill siren filled the command deck and all of Ghost Team turned to see the turbolift override turn red. "Oh hell . . ."

Both Doga and Tom slide into cover behind consoles on either side of the command deck and trained their weapons on the doors. Adrian grabbed her helmet and abandoned the sensor display to take up position alongside Doga. Kattan listened at the _Deliverance's_ captain spoke through the open channel. _"Ghost Team, we are moving to engage the battleship and remaining escorts now. Secure the data and return to the runabout ASAP. Wish us luck."_

"Yeah, us too." Kattan whispered as the turbolift doors opened just as he knelt behind one of the stations. A team of Jem'Hadar soldiers rushed out with weapons aimed, perfectly reflecting their fanatical nature. One of the engineers managed to get off the first shot with his hand phaser, but was gunned down by snap return fire. Ghost Team opened up on the attack party and barely avoided their enemies' own blasts. Two Jem'Hadar fell instantly; another took a phaser beam directly to the face from one of the other armed engineers. The remaining soldiers, realizing their compromised position, screamed in rage as they charged forward to engage in close quarters combat.

Doga roared as he met the challenge head on. He reached behind his back and pulled free a Klingon blade. He swept his target's rifle away with his free hand and brought the blade down on an unarmored part of the neck. The Jem'Hadar tried to cry out in shock as the weapon sliced through him, but was choked by his own blood.

The Jem'Hadar charging both Kattan and Tom avoided their hastily fired off shots and dove over the obstruction and tackled the Ghost Team commander to the ground. Rolling them to the side, the Jem'Hadar brought his fist down on the helmet. The visor cracked under the brute force, and Kattan was certain he could have been killed by such a blow otherwise. Tom was to his knees in a flash and had fired a round into the Jem'Hadar's shoulder causing it to howl in pain. Kattan forced the alien off of him in the moment of weakness and then silenced it with a burst of fire from his own weapon.

Doga placed his foot on the breast of his kill and kicked it to the deck. He sheathed the blade again, not bothering to clean it, and looked back to his comrades to ensure they had not fallen. "We survive a journey to Sto-vo-kor yet again."

Kattan got to his feet and pulled his helmet off. He tossed it away and moved over to kneel by the engineer who had been killed in the attack. "Not all of us." He spun to check on the remaining three members of Stepan's engineering team. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine!" Stepan snapped. She only glanced up at him briefly, tears threatening to come out, but returned to the screen. "We're almost there. If the _Deliverance_ can buy us a few more minutes we can do this."

"If the Jem'Hadar make another run for us, and I can guarantee they will, then I doubt any of us will survive a few more minutes." Stepan did not meet Kattan's gaze this time. "Work fast, Commander." He stood up and rejoined his team near the command chair. On the view screen they watched as the battleship took and returned fire from all three starships with the fighter attempting to make strafing runs. One of the two Akira-class cruisers caught it with a concentrated burst of phaser fire and the Jem'Hadar ship erupted from the inside out.

"I really hate watching space battles." Tom grumbled.

"I know the feeling." Kattan hit his communicator again. "_Euphrates_, this is Ghost Leader. Keep your finger on that transporter. We're going to need extraction the moment the engineers secure our data." The acknowledgment came through. "Patch me through to the _Deliverance._" Kattan delayed a moment before continuing. "_Deliverance,_ this is Ghost Leader. Be advised that two Dominion cruisers will be on your position within the next few minutes."

_"Understood, Ghost Leader. Standby." _The four watched as the battleship's shields began to visibly waver under the sustained fire from all three ships and then collapse. Its hull came on fire as phasers and torpedoes impacted against it unimpeded. A final burst of the battleship's own torpedoes caught one of the Akira-class cruisers on its broadside and passed through her shields. The leading edge of its primary hull ruptured and exploded into space.

Tom brought his hands up to his hair and winced at the scene. "God damnit!"

The turbolifts chimed again. Ghost Team quickly readied their weapons for another wave of Jem'Hadar when Stepan and her team suddenly rose from their positions. "That's it! We're done!" She declared and held up her closed tricorder as if it were evidence. One of her team reached for another piece and rapidly punched in a sequence of commands.

Kattan swore and jammed a finger to his communicator. "_Euphrates,_ emergency beam-out now!" He had just finished shouting the command when the turbolift doors parted to reveal the next groups of Jem'Hadar come to vanquish them. That scene quickly changed to blinding white light and then to the inside of a runabout's forward command area. Kattan grabbed onto the engineer's uniform and pulled him close. "Next time you arm a bomb you had better _warn_ someone . . ." He was interrupted as the runabout's viewports were filled with the light of an explosion coming from the command deck they had just stood upon. Kattan let go of the man's uniform and slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Good work."

He and the members of his team moved forward behind the pilot and copilot's seats. Pulling his helmet off, Kattan clenched his jaw as he saw both the _Deliverance_ and both Akiras moving to engage the Dominion cruisers. "They're running interference for us. Lieutenant, get us the hell out of here!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" The officer quickly began maneuver them clear of the burning station and out of the planet's gravitational well. "We'll be clear for warp in thirty seconds."

Kattan and Adrian both leaned over to watch the battle continuing to unfold off the runabout's starboard side. The cruisers, which had noticeably received minor damage from their engagement with the Romulans, were focusing their fire entirely upon the _Deliverance_. Kattan balled his hand into a fist and began to shake it. "Come on, just hold on another minute and we're clear."

"They're not going to make it if those Dominion ships keep pouring on that kind of fire." Adrian shut her eyes and turned away from the scene.

Kattan frowned as he saw a distortion rippling across space just behind the Jem'Hadar ships. "What the . . ." He managed to barely restrain himself as he shot his fist into the air. "Yes!"

Everyone crowded forward to watch as the believed dead Romulan warbird decloaked, unsuspecting, behind the cruisers and unleash waves of disrupter beams and torpedoes. The first cruiser's shields collapsed instantly and it exploded. The second attempted to come about and bring its main weapons to bear, but the Federation starships had already begun to press their attack. The combined power of the three made short work of the Jem'Hadar cruiser's defenses, and they raked its hull with weapons fire without mercy.

"We're clear for warp!" The lieutenant announced and the star field before them streaked past them as the warp engines engaged.

Kattan wiped a hand down his face, which he only now realized was covered with sweat, and gave a weak laugh. "Remind me to send the Romulans a fruit basket. I'm going to want to know how they pulled that one off." His two human team members returned the smile he had on, Kattan believed Doga was incapable about smiling unless death was involved, but he looked past them to see the engineers.

Stepan had seated herself down and was browsing through the contents of her tricorder's display. Kattan gently brushed past his team and stood next to her. "You did good work out there, Commander. The S.C.E. isn't usually called into combat situations like this." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry about your man."

She sniffed and nodded her head slowly. "I think Ivan would have thought it was worth it." Stepan turned the tricorder around and handed it up to Kattan. "It's not everything we were hoping, but it looks like the station did contain most of the details on the Cardassian defenses in the core worlds."

Kattan took the instrument and tapped through several pages of text. Most of it was still in Cardassian. "We can safely say our secondary objectives were met. How about the primary?"

Her lips pursed as she nodded. "It's not everything, but it's there. There are details on the orbital defense grids for Cardassia Prime, fleet deployments for the reserve defense fleet, and current information concerning deployment of Dominion reinforcements to the core worlds." Stepan turned her eyes to the deck and leaned back into the seat. "It's not everything, never seems to be, but I hope its enough."

Kattan gave her shoulder another squeeze. "It was, Commander. It was worth it." He released her and moved back up to his team. Kattan continued to scroll through the data as he halted next to Doga. "We lost one member of the insertion team and who knows how many aboard the starship to get this data, but there's enough data here to help with planning the siege against Cardassia Prime and the outlying systems."

"Then the war will end soon." Doga said with touch of displeasure.

"Not soon enough." Adrian whispered.

The runabout's console chimed and the lieutenant at the helm moved his hands over to check. "Text only transmission from the _Deliverance_. 'No further casualties incurred. Returning to Deep Space Nine with Romulan warbird.' That's all."

Returning to be sent out again, just like Ghost Team would be, Kattan thought. He looked down at the data on the tricorder once more and considered the distinct possibility that the intelligence they had just obtained may not be of any tangible use in the next month when the final assaults would begin. The Dominion could very well be aware they now possess this information and make drastic changes to their defensive network to compensate.

It would make their mission a waste of lives.

Kattan found he was strangely unmoved by that thought. "It wouldn't be the first time."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Check my forum for information on where I have been. 


End file.
